Messages are appearing in social networks indicating that Russian government employees are being forced to participate in an anti-Ukrainian procession to take place today in Moscow.

A meeting and a march will be held today in the center of Moscow to support the decision of Russia’s Federation Council to [allow Russian Armed Forces onto the territory of] Ukraine. Formally, the action is being called the march “in support of the Ukrainian people and against provocateurs who seized power in Kyiv,” the Russian television channel Dozhd reports, citing the ITAR-Tass Agency.

The march will begin at 17:00 and will make its way from Pushkin Square to Sakharov Avenue. Participants will include patriotic youth organizations, student construction teams, an all-Russian organization of veterans known as the Military Brotherhood, and bikers from the Night Wolves club. An application for a permit was filed with the mayor’s office yesterday.

Meanwhile, according to TV Dozhd, there are numerous reports in social networks of federal employees being coerced into participating. These have not been confirmed or denied.

On March 1, 2014 the Federation Council unanimously adopted a proposal by Russian President Vladimir Putin on the use of the Armed Forces in Ukraine.

“We reviewed the request of the President of Russian Federation and, in the name of interests and security of Russian citizens, our compatriots and personnel of the military contingent of military forces of the Russian Federation located in the Crimean Autonomous Republic in Ukraine in accordance with international treaties, the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation rules that the President’s request to use the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in the territory of Ukraine is to be granted until the current socio-political conflict in the country is resolved. We act in accordance with [the fourth paragraph] of part 1 of Article 102 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation.”

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